Belongs within: Lamiaceae.
Bugle call
Published 9 June 2026
Members of the mint family Lamiaceae include many of the world’s most popular garden plants. This popularity is particularly driven by the aromatic nature of many Lamiaceae species, resulting in their use as herbs, such as mint and rosemary. But there are also representatives that are generally not subject to culinary use but remain popular ornamentals, such as species of the bugle genus Ajuga.
Ajuga is a genus of forty or fifty species of perennial, annual or biennial herbs, often with a sprawling habit. Species are native to temperate regions of the Old World, particularly Eurasia. One species, A. australis, is native to Australia, and another, A. reptans, is widespread as an invasive in North America. The vernacular name ‘bugle’ or ‘bugleweed’ presumably refers to the appearance of the flowers, with a tubular calyx. The corolla has one or two lips, the lower (anterior) lip being much larger than the upper (posterior) lip, if the latter is present. The lower lip is three-lobed, the median lobe being very large and often emarginate or bipartite (Harley et al. 2004). Following pollination, the corolla persists as a sheath around the fruit, which is usually a dry schizocarp of four nutlets though it may occasionally be a four-lobed drupe. Nutlets have an elaiosome, a layer of fatty tissue on the abscission scar, that attracts ants to act as dispersers as they carry the nut back to their nests.
Because of their attractive, aromatic foliage and flowers, several Ajuga species are widely cultivated as ornamental groundcovers. Numerous sources online refer to leaves of A. reptans being edible, though it has never been a major food source; it seems they must be collected when young, as older leaves grow too bitter to be palatable.
Systematics of Ajuga
<==Ajuga
|--A. australisBR65
|--A. bracteosaO88
|--A. chamaepitysPT98
| |--A. c. ssp. chamaepitysPT98
| `--A. c. ssp. chiaPT98
|--A. iva [incl. A. pseudo-iva]BR65
|--A. lupulinaO88
|--A. macrospermaD07
|--A. parvifloraSS72
`--A. reptansP01
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BR65] Black, J. M., & E. L. Robertson. 1965. Flora of South Australia. Part IV. Oleaceae–Compositae. W. L. Hawes, Government Printer: Adelaide.
[D07] Dash, S. S. 2007. Useful plants of Kabi Sacred Grove, Sikkim. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49: 79–88.
Harley, R. M., S. Atkins, A. L. Budantsev, P. D. Cantino, B. J. Conn, R. Grayer, M. M. Harley, R. de Kok, T. Krestovskaja, R. Morales, A. J. Paton, O. Ryding & T. Upson. 2004. Labiatae. In: Kadereit, J. W. (ed.) The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants vol. 7. Flowering Plants. Dicotyledons. Lamiales (except Acanthaceae, including Avicenniaceae) pp. 167-275. Springer.
[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.
[PT98] Panitsa, M., & D. Tzanoudakis. 1998. Contribution to the study of the Greek flora: flora and vegetation of the E Aegean islands Agathonisi and Pharmakonisi. Willdenowia 28: 95–116.
[P01] Pennisi, E. 2001. Linnaeus’s last stand? Science 291: 2304–2307.
[SS72] Singh, V., & H. Singh. 1972. A contribution to the flora of Gangolihat block in Pithoragarh District. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 69 (2): 352–368.